Welcome to 2020, our new and returning staff – Ashlee Stanley (Reception S), Jessica Jenkins (Year 6) and Deb Madgen (Year 1), and our new families – Acharya, Acuna, Adam, Albanese, Alex, Amarasinghe, Astachnowicz, Barrett, Bond, Chalouhy, Chen, Chhetri, Chiu, Colagrossi, D'Angelo, De Cesare, De Lucia, Deal, Dimasi, Dobson, Fitzpatrick, Francis, Gain, Gerace, Goodhand, Grasso, Gupta, Habonimana, Harris, Ilagan, Jauri, Kaur, Kestell, Khinda, Kimani, Kochhar, Koppes, Liu, Lu, Lukasiewicz, Majak, Morelli, Morris, Munn, O'Donoghue, Oliver, Palmieri, Parmar, Patel, Patras, Pfeiffer, Pianezzola, Piantedosi, Rositano, Schiller, Shah, Sharma, Shen, Sijo Padayattil, Soininen, Suleman Khalid, Tunnah, Turton, Tyagi, Vasantha Kumar, Verma, Vernik, White, Wong, Wyld, Yang to our community today. We are truly blessed by God that you have chosen St Pius X for your child and your trust will not be taken for granted.

We feel privileged that we have spent valuable time on getting to know all of our children to set up for success. Last year, all of our teachers came together to meet with each child’s new teacher, providing them with valuable information about social, personal and academic progress, including the formation of individual goals for each child. This information was added to the ‘book a chat’ conversation between yourself and your child’s 2020 teacher. (If you were unable to attend this last week, your teacher is awaiting you to make a time in the next fortnight).

Our teachers met with the 2019 Preschools and ELC’s to learn about each new child coming to our Reception classes. We had two transition mornings here to learn more about each child and to work with you on getting ‘school ready’.

Last Thursday, the whole staff met with Mark Le Messurier in our PD day.  Mark has profound counselling experience and author of a fabulous Social and Emotional Learning program that is used across 30 countries. (What’s the Buzz.. https://whatsthebuzz.net.au/ )

Mark works with individual students, families and educators to enable all to respond to the needs of our children, to support them, build confidence and resilience and a sense of positive identity.  As a result of Mark’s work, we now have a school wide Social and Emotional Learning program in place and your child will experience the positive impact of this across 2020.

So, I was not surprised with this background to see our beautiful children settle so quickly yesterday. The day was marked by a sense of calm, a positive excitement for the year ahead and a joy of being back with friends. Thank you, parents, you have done a great job in easing your child back to school as well.

Health Alert

We share the great concern of the outbreak of Caronavirus that has now spread to several continents, including Australia. Our prayers go out to all of those affected and the tragic circumstance they find themselves in. I have been monitoring advice such as below from the Department of Health website.

https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov.

Yesterday I received a circular from the Catholic Education Office, similar to that which has gone to Department of Education schools. The latest advice is that school students and staff, even those who have travelled to Hubei Province, are able to return to school unless they are close contacts of a confirmed case, or they have symptoms consistent with the virus. Those symptoms may include fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, and sore throat. All students and staff who have travelled to mainland China, and especially Hubei Province, should monitor themselves for the 14 days from their departure from mainland China for symptoms of coronavirus.

At St Pius X, I am unaware of any family returning from the Hubei Province in recent weeks, but if this has occurred  I invite you to contact me to discuss your particular circumstances and to make an informed decision based on the best interests of the child and larger school population.

Meet the Teacher Evening

On Tuesday, 11^th February, you are invited to pop in and meet your child’s teacher anytime between 6:00pm and 7:30pm.  There will be no formal information session as all of this will be given to you in a ‘Class Information Booklet’ on the night.  Then in Week 10, 30th and 31st March and 1st April, we will be holding ’3 Way Conversations’ after school and late Wednesday evening in which your child, your teacher and yourself will discuss the start to the year and goals for 2020.

Cybersafety - Parent Information Sessions

This information has been disseminated since October 2019 - parents of students in Years 5 and 6, who wish to use a school Macbook at home will need to attend, even if they attended last year. New information will be presented and the school needs to be confident that you have the necessary security and protection in the home environment. 

The sessions will assist you in setting up safety measures, protocols and parent controls on your network at home as well as provide essential information about children and the Web. 

All parents are invited to attend one of the sessions which will be held on Wednesday 5^th February at 9:00am and Thursday 6^th February at 6:00pm for approximately one hour each. 

Our Out of School Care service will be providing a creche for those families requiring care for their children during the sessions.    

Bookings for the sessions and the creche may be made by visiting -

https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code?code=3p756

We look forward to your participation. 

Uniforms
I was thrilled to see so many children in the Active Wear Uniform at the start of the year. Given the brief lead in time for manufacture, we were initially only able to offer this to new children commencing in 2020, but you will see that other families have also been able to purchase a limited amount. We are currently in mass production and will inform you when new supplies are available.

Question: I am awaiting delivery of new the Active Wear uniform/my child’s current summer uniform is too small and I don’t want to purchase a new one. Can my child wear their current Sports Uniform?

Answer: Yes, your child may wear the new Active Wear, old Sports Uniform or full Summer Uniform, but not a blend of these, eg do not wear Summer Uniform with sneakers, Sports Uniform with school jumper etc. Please note that the Uniform Committee and School Board both re-stated that the Active Wear and Sports Uniform must be worn with predominantly white sneakers. This policy has not changed, so avoid disappointment and frustration by not allowing your child to wear fluoro sneakers, red soccer shoes and the like.

Pupil Free Day

St Pius X School has undertaken a great deal of professional learning that is leading to outstanding progress in literacy. Late last year we were offered the chance to work with Lorraine Hammond who is visiting Adelaide from her home city of Perth. Lorraine is nationally recognised for her expertise in Literacy and particular teaching methods that support all children to achieve impressive growth.

Lorraine will be working with key Department of Education Leaders in February and we jumped at her offer to work with our staff exclusively on February 24^th.

I recognise this Pupil Free Day may cause some difficulties, and of course OSHC will be available for those families needing care. This Pupil Free Day will take the place of the traditional one held on the first day of Term 2 ie the Monday of the first week will be a normal school day. 

Lastly, as of last Monday week, I am a grandfather. My daughter Dominique gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Oeife (Irish name, pronounced ‘Eeffie’). We were able to visit her in Melbourne last weekend and I have to say it was a truly magical and breathtaking experience.

God Bless,

Greg

Distributed to all families today, via your eldest child, is a copy of this year’s Parent Handbook and the Term 1 School Calendar.  The Handbook is also available on the school's website.

Please take the time to install the Schoolzine App on your mobile device and then subscribe to your child's class - go to the Manage tab and select the relevant class(es).  

Permission notes and other documents specific to your child's class will be sent via these groups.